Ukrainian Wikipedia protests against law curbing free speech

Share this:

The Ukrainian Wikipedia community is protesting against laws that go into effect on January 21 that criminalise criticism of government officials. In a protest banner message on its site, the community says that free speech on the internet needs to be protected.

The editors who run the site also announced a daily 30-minute strike from 4pm to 4.30pm on January 21. During that time, the Ukrainian pages of Wikipedia will not be available.

The new law allows the government to block websites that are engaged in the spread of extremist information, which is broadly defined. Any material that contains anti-government material and does not refer to official Ukrainian government websites can fall into these categories.

Help support the Globe

The Sofia Globe team can testify that upholding the globe is reminiscent of the work of Atlas. Please support us in continuing to offer - as we set out to do when we launched in June 2012 - journalism that is truly independent and informed. All donations are gratefully received as we put in place our plans to grow in the years ahead.

Sign up for TheSofiaGlobe bulletin

About Us: The Sofia Globe

The Sofia Globe provides news, features, insight and analysis about Bulgaria, Central and Eastern Europe and the wider world according to the high professional standards of independence and objectivity that we have set ourselves in our Editorial Charter. Read more about us.

Contacts For editorial, advertising and general inquiries, please e-mail editor@sofiaglobe.com